Nikon D300 Hot Pixel Problem!

I have recently purched a Nikon D300 and have just noticed it has what I believe to be a hot pixel.

In some photos it shows as a red dot and in others it is much harder to see. but the pixes at the same point in the picture are definitely a different shade than the surounding ones.

I was wondering if I should get in touch with who I purchaced it off, or could I simply receive another D300 that has the same problem? The thing is, I bought it through eBay from DigitalRev, and it came all the way from China. I have never bought anything from abroad before, so I can see this being a potential problem.

I have searched around for some answers to this problem and I have seen people saying it is quite common to have hot pixels, and that it may sort itself out.

I have been recommended by a friend (rfh12002) to ask here, as he say's there are a lot of you who have bought the D300 and you would possibly be able to help out.

I would really appreciate any help regarding this, as I have spent a lot on it.

Hmm you purchased a Nikon d300 on Ebay. Do you mean DigitalRev or Digital River? Does it have 'Gray warranty' or a real Nikon Warranty. US or European type warranty?

Digital River has been in business for 10 years or so.

Have you registered your Nikon with Nikon.com ?

It really is ok to have 1 or 2 hot pixels.. this is normal. In fact in Nikon's warranty they specify the number of allowable hot pixels. More than this allowed hot pixel count.. might be terms for warranty work on the sensor. Your warranty will have the contact telephone and service center

Nikon though are not a very nice company when it comes to out of region warranty and this is another good reason to buy Canon gear. But that said the D300 is a very nice camera and normally comes with MACK warranty from DigitalRev www.mackcam.com

Camera bodies normally carry this MACK warranty but the lenses do not.

If you want to see the HOT pixels it has take a photo of black (maybe leave the lens cap on) and shoot in auto mode. It is though quite common for hot pixels to some degree.

As for DigitalRev my experience has been 50/50 with them. You save some money but customer service is slow and if you need to return something don't be in a hurry. That said, I'm pretty sure they have a phone support centre local to most countries so it might be worth a phone call.

If you have a business and are using the camera for business, here in the US, you can write the camera off on self employement income tax as an expense item, thereby reducing your income tax liability. It make sense to buy local.

Canon or Nikon manufacturers control their products pricing structure anyway. They set the retail price point and margin variation. Local Retailer have to follow the manufacturers price point spread. Example, Canon will sell camera X for a suggested retail market price for $1000 with a 10% variation. So authorized retail stores must sell the camera lowest $900 - $1000 MSRP or risk getting dumped from the Manufacturers preferred distribution list.

To promote sales of product at or near the end of the product life cycle Canon will independantly offer mail in REBATE coupons. I have seen this happen in the Spring or Fall. This keeps the retailers on a short pricing leash.

After the product camera life cycle has ended and replacement product are on the shelves then the product sometimes show up on ebay.

Its all a marketing strategy for NOT over producing and having to dump product at deep discounted price at the end of the life cycle.

Or at least that is my perception.

Buy local really expensive items. If in business its business expense anyway. Like Smooth says.. its ok to pay the extra costs in exchange for less aggravation.

That's all fair comment Dave, though not totally relevant world over. At times the Australian dollar has been as weak as 0.48 cents to the USD and that makes for one hell of a price difference when importing from Hong Kong or other far off destinations. I'm sure your country has felt this to some "small" extent over the last couple of months where the USD has been weaker.

Actually the biggest price spread on cameras appears to be in the USA where you have a lot of Grey market sellers alongside authorised distributors.

You make a good point that the Camera is depreciable against business tax and at least in Australia the GST tax component is recoverable on your BAS (Business Activity Statement) be it monthly, quarterly or yearly depending on your business tax reporting set up.

When it's all said and done it's a calculated risk that only you yourself can make after weighing things up. Over the years I have saved many thousands of dollars buying offshore. But - it can come back and bite you once and awhile.